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STEUBENVILLE -- Big Red's girls basketball roster doesn't include a single senior. It does, however, sport, as coach Angie Forte pointed out, "18 kids who all are coachable."
"We are very fortunate to have a talented bunch of ladies who are willing to work hard and get up and down the floor," said Forte, who is in her third year with the program. "The girls have been working on their perimeter shots and also working on scoring in transition. We also have tried to slow it down a little and run some half court sets. We are working to be a well-rounded team.
"The awesome thing about it is they are a coachable group of young ladies. They work extremely hard and they are hungry. They are growing into their own and like I said, all the way around--all 18 kids are coachable."
Forte lost three players through graduation in Elexis Martin, Myla Fleming and Maggie Cucarese.
Headlining the list of returnees are three juniors--Madalyn Criss, Aniyah Warner and Sabria Jones. All three saw considerable playing time as sophomores.
Crisis, a sweet-shooting guard, averaged 10.8 points a game and earned third team all-Eastern District Division II honors. Warner received special mention and Jones honorable mention.
Other juniors on the Big Red squad are Niyah Dumberg-Ingram and Madison Cooper.
Sophomores Paige Matteson, another all district honorable mention selection, and Analesa Purdue picked up varsity minutes during their freshmen seasons. Gabby Vein, Cianna Scurry and Jasmine Gregory are three other sophomores looking for playing time.
"Three of our juniors and two of the sophomores all played varsity last year," Forte said. "They got great varsity minutes. There were times when four of the tem were in our starting lineups.
"Again, they are a young bunch but they have received some time on the court and now they have a little more experience behind them."
Forte has a promising group of freshmen. During its time at Harding Middle School, the group put together a two-year record of 35-0.
The eight freshmen are Sadie Edwards, Nylah McShan, Addyson Meyer, Bailee Beall, Emma Lyons, Kashauna Crawford, Laila Reed and Sagan Smarrella.
"I'll tell you this--that whole group of freshmen, they don't back down," Forte noted. "They are aggressive and they challenge our upperclassmen. Every day is a battle at practice. Whatever combination of kids we put in whether it's for drills or scrimmages, everyone challenges the next one.
"The best never rest until the good get better and the better get best--we say that all the time in practice. Everyone pushes the next one. Iron sharpens iron. They all challenge each other to be better players. Plus, there is great camaraderie."
Todd Criss will serve as Forte's varsity assistant this season. The junior varsity team will be coached by Melissa Bowers and Josh Meyer.
"I have a group of young ladies who are going to work extremely hard all year long," Forte said. "The younger ones have to adjust to the speed of the varsity game. They have done a good job up to this point of adjusting. We have to get on the court and see how they are on game day. The girls have worked really hard in practice. In our scrimmages, they came out and did really well. We don't want to take anything for granted. We will make no assumptions. We want to make sure from game to game we are out there and we are working hard.
"The girls are showing me more and more during every practice. Our freshmen were extremely successful at the middle school level but they need to have a complete understanding that they now are playing against girls that are 17 to 18 years old. They need to adjust to the speed and power of the game. They also need to adjust to going against girls with more experience.
"They were able to do some things at the middle school level simply because they had more talent. It won't be as easy at the varsity level. They will be going against girls with more skill and experience. We have those conversations on a regular basis. They are learning they can't take anything for granted and they can make no assumptions. We just have to keep putting the work in to improve, focus on constantly getting better and not being satisfied."